The Access Network Building Block Solution
  AXXESSIT has made access networking easy. Through its remarkably flexible and scalable building block solution, AXXESSIT enables easy establishment of service-integrated, broad-band access networks today. Choose an appropriate set of modules and interconnect them through generic plug-in interfaces, and an access network with services is ready for operation. Start with a very small system and scale up as needed.
  AXXEDGE - A Highly Versatile Consolidation Unit - AXXEDGE is a remarkably compact and versatile consolidation unit (CU), part of the AXXESSIT building block solution. A CU fits into an operator's network between the customer and the backbone network. The AXXEDGE may also be used as a high-end, integrated access device (IAD) - that is, a service-integrated CPE (Customer Premises Equipment).
   Both TDM (Time-Division Multiplexing) and IP/packet traffic are accommodated in a single link and equipment unit. The two kinds of traffic can be jointly carried either in a TDM data stream or an IP/packet data stream. A variety of TDM and packet interfaces can be used on the customer side. As backbone, both TDM and IP/packet networks can be used. At the physical layer, fiber, radio and copper can be used as transmission medium.
    The AXXEDGE can be used as a terminal multiplexer (TM), add-drop multiplexer (ADM), non-blocking cross-connect, layer two packet switch, IP wire-speed router, or any com­binations of these. Differentiating services like IP VPN (Virtual Private Network), SLA (Service Level Agreement) handling, firewall and traffic engineering, may also be executed. Any physical network topologies are supported: ring, mesh, bus, star, chain and combinations.

 The AXXEDGE Base Module -
   The unified, modular architecture of the AXXEDGE gives remarkable flexibility, scalability and total cost of ownership, making it a uniform environment for implementation of a multitude of existing and future services. AXXEDGE consists of a base module that has FOUR SLOTS with identical interfaces, into which AXXEDGE numerous kinds of service modules can be plugged. 
   The base module is used to form the basic structure of the access network. It is a chassis of size 1U in a 13 inch rack, containing backplane, system controller, base SW, fans, power and other basic mechanisms. Fully equipped with service modules, a base module weighs less than 5 kg and dissipates less than 60 W power (rare exceptions may dissipate up to 120W). Power protection is offered." 

 Service Modules
   The service modules implement different kinds of services, interfaces, technologies and transmission media. The external interfaces of a base module, are decided by the service modules plugged in at any time. These external interfaces are used to
    • connect customers
    • connect to other parts of the network
    • interconnect base modules 

Unprecedented Flexibility
   Network topology, transmission medium, services, interfaces and technologies may all be changed by the replacement of a module. This remarkable flexibility is further enhanced by the fact that both base modules and service modules are powerful computing platforms for access networking. Functionality and features of the modules may be changed by SW upgrade, accomplished by download of SW from a central site across a network. Extensive use of FPGAs (Field-Programmable Gate Arrays) in the HW, allows significant changes even to the HW, by download of logic across the network. At present, AXXESSIT offers a powerful set of service modules representing state-of-the-art capabilities of access networking. More service modules will be incorporated as forward-looking technologies mature and can deliver industrial-strength service. The generic base module architecture allows for plug-in of the future technology service modules.

Proven Inter-Operability
   Several widespread de facto standards are implemented. AXXESSIT has proven records of interoperability with equipment from other vendors. This makes it easy to fit the AXXEDGE into numerous kinds of existing infra­structures, possibly in combination with new equipment from other ven­dors. New services and transmission modes can this way be introduced with very limited effort and entrance cost. Incumbent operators may easily fit the АХХЕSSIT equipment into existing networks to establish full-service access networks (FSANs). This is protection of investments in practice. Greenfield operators may optimize for NGAN from scratch.

Pay as You Grow Principle
   Service establishment by greenfield operators is further supported by the outstanding scalability of the AXXEDGE and АХХЕSSIT building block solution. An AXXEDGE base module equipped with one or more service modules, is a self-contained access network unit. That is, such a small physical unit is sufficient to establish operational services in small scale. More capacity, customers or service types may be added by adding service modules.
    Further growth is accommodated by stacking of base modules - that is, interconnection of base modules. A low-cost, short-haul interface is used for stacking co-located base modules. For geographically dispersed base modules, standard, long-haul interfaces are used. The AXXEDGE base mod-ule may be interconnected with other AXXEDGE base modules or other kinds of base modules in the АХХЕSSIT building block solution, and of course equipment from other vendors.
This way, AXXEDGE and the АХХЕSSIT building block solution offer fine-grained scalability from very small to very large systems. Rapid start-up is facilitated. A new standard for low entrance costs has been set Expansions of the system are financed by revenues from already connected customers.

Ultra-Small Footprint
   The compact design of AXXEDGE gives very space-efficient access networks. This facilitates tractability under transport and otherwise, as well as building space savings. Examples of what can be accommodated in a single AXXEDGE service module and base module are given in the table below. The size of a base module is as little as 1U in a 19 inch rack. 

Unified Management
   All service and technology aspects are managed by the same management system, running on open platforms. This makes management of the access networks particularly cost-efficient, easy-to-learn and unleashes the full potential of the combined infrastructure. All network elements offer the industry-standard SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) interface, and act in the agent role relative to the management system.
   The management system is operated through a powerful, easy-to-use graphical user interface (GUI), available both as Java and web clients. A wide range of options is offered for connecting the management system to the network elements. TCP/IP and OSI-based management networks may be used. The management traffic can be carried in-band in user traffic through TDM and IP/packet interfaces. Out-of-band management traffic through dedicated management ports is also offered. Both remote and local operations are supported.
   The best practice, component-based SW architecture of the management system, facilitates dynamic evolution and integration with other systems. Industry-standard, north-bound interfaces are offered, for integration with existing OSSs (Operations Support Systems) and business processes. Tailored interface adapters for the most common OSSs are also available. 

FEATURES and SPECIFICATIONS
   The AXXEDGE implements most widespread standard and de facto standard TDM and IP packet interfaces in the access market. Numerous optical, radio and copper connector options are offered for interfaces like PDH, SDH and Ethernet/IP. Contact AXXESSIT to hear more about the solutions on these and other fields like MPLS/GMPLS (Multi-Protocol Label Switching/Generalised Multi­protocol Label Switching), WDM (Wave-Division Multiplexing), VLAN (Virtual LAN], Novell IPX (Internet Packet eXchange), VNs (Virtual Networks), IP VPN, IPSec (IP SECurity), QoS (Quality Of Service), SLA handling, ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode), PoS (Packet Over SONET), firewalling, managed network services, and other.
In general, the detailed specifications for AXXEDGE satisfy most access networking needs.